Slain Hearts
by Elizabeth Hemingway
Summary: AU. Kagome, a taijiya with miko powers, is one of those entrusted with the safety of the human race. What then when she is unwittingly swept off her feet by her prey?


Slayer, Stray, and Savior

"You have two daughters, correct?" The balding man asked conversationally, nursing his tea.

The balding man, a respected member of the taijiya village and renowned for slaying a dozen youkai during a single raid with his spear alone, was a guest at Hikaru's table that morning. Hikaru, a middle-aged man as well as an accomplished demon-slayer himself, watched the sun glance off his guest's sweaty dome as it spilled in through the three oval windows of the eating room.

"You are correct, Otohiro. My oldest is called Sango, and my youngest Kagome," He replied, scratching absently at the dark stubble on his chin.

Otohiro withdrew a dirty-looking cloth from the folds of his kimono and dabbed his cranium with it, though the action yielded minimal results, "Of course, how could I have forgotten about Sango? She is a flower, your daughter. The best taijiya in the whole village I'd dare to guess. My oldest son would be ever so fortunate to have someone like--"

Otohiro's rambling was cut off by a forced cough from Hikaru. The bald man blinked, looking askance at the man seated across the table who had been so blessed as to have been able to keep his head of smooth black hair as he aged.

"My eldest, Sango, is already betrothed to Shigeru, son of Yokuya," Hikaru explained politely.

Otohiro's face wrinkled in a grin, "How silly of me! Of course she'll have already been--I'm incurably forgetful, you know."

"My youngest child however, has just turned fifteen, the ideal marrying age," Hikaru offered.

"Yes, right! Kagajin, was it?"

"Kagome."

"Of course! How could I have--I've known her since she was an infant! Delightful little thing, and she's got all her mother's miko power, Buddha rest her soul."

Hikaru gave a curt nod, mentally reprimanding himself for the slight twitch his hand had given at the abrupt mention of his deceased wife, "I would most certainly approve of a match between your son, Hiroyuki, and my youngest daughter."

"Such a marriage would be most benign, what with my son being the future headman, and your daughter the guardian of the Shikon no Tama," He smiled dreamily before biting into his rice ball.

As his guest chewed noisily, Hikaru cleared his throat, becoming more business-like, "Now, about Kagome's dowry--"

"I remember when that damn great hoard of youkai invaded the village three years ago. Ambushed us from right under our noses, but before we'd even rubbed the sleep dust from our eyes your Kagajin fired one arrow--just one of her purity arrows-- that was the end of the lot of them!" Otohiro clapped gleefully as he reminisced.

Hikaru smiled tolerantly, wondering if Hiroyuki was adopted; he was nothing like his father in that he was sharp-minded and serious, whereas Otohiro was constantly to be seen telling nonsensical jokes he'd overheard. Attempting to redirect the conversation back to the reason he'd invited Otohiro here, he said hastily, "I think we should discuss the best season for the--"

"I know your daughter is an excellent taijiya," Otohiro cut him off again, seemingly oblivious that his host had uttered a word, "a taijiya among taijiyas. But, I must ask, what of her manners? An honest opinion, father to father, is all I ask for. In what sort of cooking does she specialize?"

Hikaru acquiesced with a barely audible sigh, "Her mother taught her most of her manners. She made the rice ball you're eating as a matter of fact."

"You don't say? That's extraordinary! All the better for Hiroyuki!" He took another sizable bite of the rice ball.

Though usually not one to boast, Hikaru allowed himself a feeling of reserved pride this once. After all, his Kagome was an intelligent young woman, most like her mother in so many respects, "She is also very skilled at sewing. She's always made her own clothes and even some of mine and Sango's."

Otohiro smiled widely, washing down the rice with tea, "Buddha smiles upon me! I never thought I'd be so fortunate as to find such a match for Hiroyuki. Go on, tell me more."

"She always completes her chores without complaint, she's wonderful with young children, and I know her to have a very lovely singing voice."

Suddenly there was a crashing sound from outside, and both men stopped to listen, Otohiro freezing with his fourth rice ball half-way to his open mouth. The crash sounded again, closer this time, and Hikaru thought he could hear the sounds of girlish squealing.

"Surely not a youkai this early in the morning?" Otohiro conjectured, as if attacking youkai paid any heed to courtesy.

"Probably nothing," Hikaru said gruffly, praying inwardly that it was not what he thought it was. "Now, we were speaking about? Right, Kagome's manners..."

He got no further however, for at that moment both men jumped, Otohiro slopping tea all down his front, as a girl in a white bathing yukata ran screaming into the room, her long ebony hair still wet.

Before either man could find his tongue, another, older girl followed the younger one over the threshold into the room where Hikaru and his guest had been sitting peacefully seconds before, a heavy sack of rice in her grasp, "I'll teach you to throw rice at me, Kagome!"

Hikaru winced as Sango dumped the rice into the air, and all of a sudden it was raining little white specks everywhere, the grains showering down upon their heads as Kagome screeched, smiling devilishly at her older sister, "You'll get it for that one!"

The two girls charged at each other, only one of them dressed decently, and fell to the floor in a flurry of fists as they rolled around on the ground, uncaring of the rice sticking to them or of an extremely abashed-looking Otohiro.

It was then that Hikaru found his voice. He shot up from his seat and bellowed, "G--Girls, stop this behavior at once!"

But they didn't seem to hear him, and just as Kagome got in a good right-hook from where she was pinned to the ground, Kirara came tearing through the door, two more sacks of rice clutched in her massive maw, but those too went flying when she gave a roar, and once again it was snowing in mid-spring as the contents of the sacks were emptied onto the inhabitants of the room.

Hikaru literally put his foot down, "STOP!"

As it so happened, their father had brought his foot down upon the table, and the combined sound of their father's angry howl and his foot splitting the wood brought the two girls back to their senses. Sango looked up from where she was strangling her sister, only to see the livid, rice-coated face of her father towering over them. Kagome gasped when she saw there was another man in the house who was not her father, and promptly pushed her sister off of her in order to straiten her not-so-modest bath robe.

"Um...," Kagome started automatically, having no idea what she should say and feeling exceptionally embarrassed.

"Good morning, Father," Sango said with a profoundly exaggerated grin, staring up at the vein pulsing in Hikaru's temple from her spot on the floor.

- - - -

"We sure got off easy," Sango said casually as she swept the broom once more across the front porch.

"'Easy'?" Kagome reiterated incredulously, stopping her own broom in mid-sweep. "You call picking up every single grain of rice we spilled easy? Oh, Father was so angry with us."

"And he was ever angrier when he found out we did the same thing to the front porch as we did to the eating room," Sango added, trying and failing to suppress a grin. "At least we don't have to do our usual chores. All we've been doing for hours is cleaning up rice."

"It's all your fault anyway," Kagome glared at her sister. "If you hadn't told that traveling monk that I was possessed by a youkai's restless spirit I wouldn't have thrown rice at you."

Sango giggled, "Are you sure you weren't really possessed? I don't know anything else that could've made you run in on Father and his guest practically naked. And it was the headman no less."

Kagome blushed, "I--I was just anxious to get dressed. I think that monk was spying on me while I took my morning bath."

Over on the porch, kitten Kirara was rolling around on her back, her two tails disturbing the neglected rice grains as she mewled curiously at a passing butterfly.

Sango reluctantly tore her gaze from the nekoyoukai she would usually have been playing with, and continued pushing her broom along through the rice-sprinkled dirt in front of their house, "He probably was. I've caught him peeping on me more than once." After a short silence wherein the wind ruffled the girls' ankle-length kimonos, she inquired, "You do know what Father was doing in there with Otohiro, don't you?"

Kagome blinked at her sister, "No. Was it something important?"

"Well, they were arranging your marriage to one of Otohiro's sons, weren't they?"

"My marriage?" Kagome gasped. "But--he has five sons! Which one am I--?"

"It's probably Hiroyuki, he's the only one old enough to marry," Sango waved her hand in a calming gesture.

Kagome huffed irritably, putting a little more force into her sweeping than she had previously, "I'm glad I made of fool of myself in front of the headman then, because I don't want to marry Hiroyuki."

Sango rolled her eyes, "What, is there someone else you have your eye on?"

"No, but I just can't see Hiroyuki as anything but a friend," Kagome answered, her fingers playing over the smooth surface of the magenta jewel strung about her neck.

"It's better to be good friends with your husband than complete strangers," Sango said matter-of-factly, but her sister knew that she was thinking about her fiance, Shigeru, when she said that.

Kagome swept more dusty rice into the already large pile, "Speaking of eyes... if I'm not mistaken, I've seen you making them at that traveling monk, what's his name? Miriko? AH!"

There was a smack of wood on wood; Sango had thrown herself at her sister, her eyes flashing, and had just barely missed striking her with the handle of her broom when Kagome lifted her own broom to block the blow. Sango stepped back slightly, still holding her broom as if it were a sword.

"If you go spewing inanities like that around Father, he'll--"

"Inanities? What about that monk watching you while you bathe? He always comes back because you never hit him hard enough! Uhn!" Kagome parried another swing of her sister's broom, and soon they were circling each other, leaping and smacking their broom handles together as if it were a training routine.

"You don't know what you're talking about! I'm engaged!" Sango shouted, her cheeks dusted with a faint pink tinge.

"I'm not stupid! Your lucky if I don't tell Father! Ha!" Kagome knocked her sister's broom out of her hand. "Infatuation does take its toll on your form, Sango."

Before Sango could vociferate her mordant reply however, a voice that made her face instantly burn red hailed them, and Kagome turned to see none other than the wandering monk approaching them, deep purple robes billowing about his tall frame, the golden hoops on his staff glinting like his earrings in the late afternoon sun.

"Hello," He said with a smile, stopping before the rice pile they had made. "Might two lovely young ladies have space to quarter a humble monk like myself for the night? I can perform an exorcism as payment for your hospitality."

Sango looked at her sister, the roguish smile she was wearing filling her with trepidation, but she was helpless to stop her as Kagome turned to the monk, "Miriko, isn't it?"

"Miroku," He supplied with a bow.

"Yes. Well, it's a good thing you asked us because we have one extra guest room available, and I'm sure Father would be honored to cater to a holy man," Kagome said with a smirk. "And there's no need to waste your ofuda, we taijiyas are our own protection. You don't have to pay us anything. Come inside while I prepare dinner, won't you?"

Kagome turned, winking at a speechless Sango before leading the monk into the house.

After only an hour's passing, Kagome had prepared an ample feast. Due to the temporary incapacitation of their table, four individual tables had been set up, and seated at them were Sango, Miroku, Hikaru, and Kagome when she finally sat down.

Kagome noticed her older sister casting the monk furtive glances. She had never seen her sister behave in such a manner in the presence of a man. Kagome had been bluffing when she had threatened to tell their father about Sango's liking the monk--she would never betray her older sister like that (not that Sango had to know--it was an efficacious threat).

"Houshi-dono," Hikaru addressed Miroku, who lifted his eyes from his soup. "If you don't mind me asking, what are those beads that you wear around your hand?"

"A most unfortunate tale. These prayer beads are here to keep my curse in check, for it was three years ago I came across a most malevolent youkai in my travels. It was a shape-shifter..."

Nobody had yet noticed that while everyone else was at least halfway through their meal, Kagome had barely taken a bite. The monk and Hikaru being wrapped up in a discussion of the cursing capabilities of demons, and Sango too busy gazing at Miroku to notice, Kagome clandestinely removed a few dumplings, a rice cake, and her cooked rabbit from her plate, piling them into her lap and folding the green cloth of her outermost kimono over the food to hide it.

Looking around to make certain that no one that wasn't supposed to had seen, Kagome started when her sister's eyes caught hers, saying plainly, 'Talk to me! I don't want to get stuck talking to that monk.'

Kagome sniffed, giving her sister the cold shoulder, as if to say, 'Yeah, right.'

Sango gripped her dumpling so hard that some of the insides leaked out onto her arm, her eyes blazing in a fury of 'Some sister you are!'

Kagome stared her down, her scintillating gray eyes alight with mischief, blinking, 'I think Father approves of your choice. He might even invite Miroku to stay another night if they keep getting on so well.'

Before Sango could rebut with her tacit riposte, both girls heads turned to the soft sound of their father's voice, "Kagome?"

"Yes Father?" Kagome responded, covering her stash of food by placing her hands over her lap.

Her father's mouth was a stern line beneath his bristly mustache, "I must tell you that despite you and your sister's antics earlier, Otohiro has not declined my offer of a marriage arrangement between you and his eldest, Hiroyuki."

A lump formed in Kagome's throat as she nodded to her father. His face seemed more irascible than usual, and the silence between them was fraught with her father's reproval. Kagome felt more ashamed than ever.

"Father, I'm sorry," Kagome said, her head bowed low in her sincerity.

There was a hush, then, "It's alright, Kagome. I forgive you. Sango too."

Kagome looked up at her father with wide eyes, her mouth slightly agape. Her father was staring down at her with his classic lopsided grin, his eyes glowing with affection.

"Th--Thank you, Father," Kagome whispered, barely noticing that some of the dumplings in her lap were gushing their warm contents onto her legs.

Hikaru nodded once to his daughter, then slapped his knees with his palms, "That was a fabulous dinner, but now it is time to clean up and then to sleep. Sango, why don't you go and prepare the Houshi's room?"

Kagome scarcely stifled a laugh. Her father was looking at her older sister expectantly, Miroku taking quiet notice of the blush on Sango's cheeks.

"Y--Yes, Father," Sango stuttered, a frown line wrinkling her brow as she stood up, Miroku staring after her with a slight smile as she quickly left the room.

Kagome sat in the dust beside the water pump behind her family's house, waiting for her sister's shadow to appear around the corner. The food was getting a bit cold where it remained ensconced in her lap, but Kagome knew her sister would not be long. She whiled away the minutes watching the sun's setting, the heavens ablaze with the fires of the ruby star. She rolled the glowing jewel between her fingers absentmindedly as she stared up at the clouds.

"Kagome!" Sango called out, running around the corner.

Kagome stood up to meet her, holding the cloth of her kimono closed so that her food wouldn't spill out onto the ground, "Thanks for washing the cookware, Sango. I promise I'll be back before long."

"I know, I know. You've been doing this every night for nearly four moons, haven't you? I swear, you need to start saving more food for yourself," Sango admonished, eying her sister's petite form worriedly.

"I'll take your advice when I lose my first battle," Kagome responded with a grin, already starting away from the water pump.

Sango rolled her eyes, siphoning the cool water over the cookware as her younger sister made for the secret exit out of the village with her bow and quiver slung over her shoulder.

Kagome dashed through the shadows of the taijiya village, making her way to the east wall where a hole had eroded near the base of the timbers. Everyone was getting ready for bed, so she had only a nominal fear of getting caught sneaking out so late. She stopped at the village wall, her sandals stirring up dust as she held tight to the bundle of food, then slipped through the hole that she was just small enough to squeeze through.

She emerged at the culmination of a rather steep, grassy hill. She would not have been able to do so undetected under normal circumstances, but she had audaciously disabled the youkai alarm system on the east side of the village so that she could continue to sneak out every night. Kagome was grateful for the bramble and tough roots that crowded the slope; they provided more than enough foothold for her as she slowly maneuvered her way to the bottom of the hill.

Once her feet found level ground she began walking toward the stream that she bathed in so often, but at those times she was with the other women and they all went out through the main gate. Now she came with a solitary purpose, and she held the warm food securely as she came to a halt beside the swiftly moving stream, peering around at the many large boulders that abutted it.

"Shippou?" She called above the babbling echo of the brook.

Their was a scuffling sound, then a pair of bright green eyes peeked out at her from behind a large granite mound. Next thing she knew, the little orphaned kitsune had hopped out from behind the rock and landed in front of her, smiling as Kagome set the dumplings, rice cake, and rabbit meat before him.

"Here you go, little guy," She cooed, ruffling his titian hair maternally.

"Thank you, Kagome," He enthused, leaving fang marks on the dumpling as he partook of Kagome's dinner.

The warm feelings that distended Kagome's heart as she watched the little orphaned youkai child eat so voraciously obtunded her hunger as usually they did, and she sighed contentedly as he masticated the rabbit, sitting beside her as if it were the most natural thing in the world for a kitsune and a taijiya to dine together.

Kagome remembered well the day Shippou had followed her and the other taijiyas home after a terribly internecine fight high up in the mountains. In the end, Sango and Hikaru had managed to slay the execrable thunder youkai that had lain waste to the more docile youkai of that mountain, Shippou's family included. After that, Kagome had felt a certain responsibility toward the young kit. The stray fox-demon was atypically blithe around her, and as they grew more attached to each other she continued to feed Shippou in secret, albeit her father's dissuasions.

Lost in her own reflections, Kagome started when she felt the familiar sensation of someone watching her. She peered over both shoulders, looking around vigilantly for anyone that might have been in the vicinity other than Shippou, but nothing was there. She settled down after reassuring herself that it was just her imagination, but she couldn't help but feel unnerved as Shippou innocently stuffed his cheeks with dumplings. It had become a rather common occurrence of late to feel as though she were being spied on. She would have chanced a guess that it was Miroku who was following her had not the presence been so unearthly. She'd come to the unequivocal conclusion that it was the aura of a youkai.

"Kagome, the sunset is pretty, just like you!" Shippou said, pointing at the sun that was just about to sink beneath the horizon and blinking up at her winsomely.

"Yeah," Kagome smiled for the kit's sake, staring wistfully at the crimson sky, a nebulous indigo line apparent where the last rays of the sun melded with the navy sea of stars.

__

But the sun doesn't have to worry about marrying someone she doesn't want to, She thought with a sigh.

Shippou finished his food, then created two cups using his kitsune magic. He filled each one with water from the stream, and he and Kagome drank down the cool water as he told her tales of his illusions and how his parents had taught him all he knew.

It was then that Kagome sensed a malignant presence closing in on them. It hovered in the back of her mind, making her heart pump faster as it grew stronger. She dropped her cup, which promptly turned back into a leaf upon hitting the ground, and bolted upright whilst nimbly drawing her bow, rounding on the murky border of the woods.

"Run," She said urgently to Shippou, who had gotten to his little pawed feet with a scared look trembling on his face. He looked up at Kagome, but he did not move.

The demonic presence was growing stronger. Kagome nocked an arrow, "Run, Shippou!"

The kitsune fled, whizzing away in a flurry of fuzz just as two trees were ripped up by their roots. They speared through the air, landing with two tremendous crashes on either side of the miko as the looming head of an eagle fused with the winged body of a lion burst from the forest with a blood-curdling screech. Kagome prayed that someone had heard the vile roar in spite of the distance between the village and the stream. The women had wanted to be sure to pick a bathing site far from where any men could easily snoop on them.

The Opinicus-youkai spotted her, its aurous eyes fixed on the pink jewel around Kagome's neck. The bauble glinted seductively in the dying light of the sun. The beast gave a gurgling cry as it flapped its tawny wings, diving at her. The wicked gleam in its eye startled the miko, and in the time it would have taken her to fire her killing shot she dropped her arrow.

Kagome ducked just as it lunged at her with its powerful neck like a serpent would, its beak snapping at empty air as it swooped over her, the wind from its wings ripping the arrows from her quiver.

Kagome rolled over, breathing hard as she took up her bow and arrow once more, but when she got to her feet the youkai was plummeting toward her once more, and she just had time to jump out of the way of its savage rictus. No sooner than she'd done this however, she felt one of its giant paws collide with her head. The last thing she remembered was the sting of cool water on her face, the feeling of weightlessness, strong arms around her...

"Hey! Hey! Are you okay?" The words rang in her ears from a thousand miles away.

Someone was shaking Kagome by her shoulders. Her skull felt like it had been split open. She didn't particularly want to answer the question posed, but the insistent shaking would not cease.

"Wake up, woman!" Growled the disembodied voice, and she subconsciously knew that the command was somehow connected with the relentless shaking.

She gave a weak moan, then gingerly opened her eyes. She gasped at the two amber orbs staring down into hers, the wan twilight dancing in their golden depths, and, thinking it was the Opinicus-youkai, shut her eyes tightly. The shaking had stopped, but soon enough she realized that it couldn't have been the Opinicus holding her, telling her to wake up. She cracked her eyes open once more, this time spurred by curiosity.

The world around her was all a haze. The fuzzy form above her did have golden eyes, though they were not greedy, nor were they cruel like the Opinicus' had been. In fact, for being so preternatural, they exhibited an almost human quality. She was certain she'd caught a glimpse of concern shimmering underneath the surface. And what was more, the apparition had flowing silver hair that fell over its shoulders to tickle her face.

__

Silver hair? No, that can't be...

She blinked, hoping to clear away the blurriness in her vision, and sure enough when she looked back up at the figure hovering above her she saw black hair where there had been white, and deep blue eyes where her mind had shown her the auric pupils of the Opinicus. Now she was able to make out the distinctly human features of a nose, a mouth, ears. It was...a boy?

Kagome suddenly doubled over, her small frame racking as she coughed up all the water she had accidentally ingested, which turned out to be an ungodly amount. She gulped in lung-full after lung-full of air as she brought a hand to her temple.

His nose twitched, and he seemed to nod in approval before hoisting her into a sitting position, "You'll live."

Kagome fish-mouthed at the boy across from her, and in that moment it all came back to her with the realization that she was soaking wet and shivering and her head was throbbing like mad, "You--you saved me."

He shifted in a discomfited way at her awe-filled assessment, "Hmph. How do you know?"

She glanced at his red haori and hakama, both of which were soaking wet as well, "Your clothes are wet too."

"Keh!" He scoffed, letting go of her shoulders and standing up, and she had to catch herself to keep from falling back to the ground. She could've sworn he was blushing, but then again the only reprieve from the blackness was the wan starlight. As her eyes roved over her surroundings she found the shredded carcass that had once been the Opinicus-youkai lying a ways off.

"You killed that youkai!" Kagome cried, her head swimming as she gawked at the boy.

"Feh. I wouldn't have had to if you'd have done your job right. I was under the impression that the taijiya spent their lives slaying demons," He said in caustic tones, flashing her a mocking smirk.

Coupled with her dizziness, the arrant insult did her no favors, "Hey, that youkai snuck up on me! It just wanted my..."

The words died on her lips, panic fluttering in her heart like a caged bird as she groped at her throat, seeking succor. A shaky sigh escaped her when her hand closed over the mystical trinket that was the Shikon no Tama, resting safely on its chain around her neck.

She looked back at her savior, only to see him staring at the jewel with an ambivalent expression on his shadowy visage.

"You should be more careful if you're carrying something like that around, Kagome."

The taijiya blinked, "How do you know my name?"

His eyes pierced hers, and for a second it was as if she were naked under his stare as she lay curled up on the grass below him, but in reality she was just as clothed as she had been before this stranger had dived into the stream and rescued her. He didn't answer, but instead turned around and rushed off toward the forest at a sprint.

"Wait," Kagome stumbled to her feet. "Wait! Don't go!"

The black-haired boy stopped for a brief second, his eyebrows raised at her. But it was only a second, and in it his red robes disappeared, swallowed up by the gloom of the woods.

Kagome stood there, dripping from head to toe, the stinking corpse of the Opinicus-demon that had been slashed to ribbons laying off to one side, and looked up at the sky that was nearly as dark as the stranger's hair had been.

"Huh. It's the new moon tonight."


End file.
